Hey guys, I was just wondering if anybody on here has changed their headlamps from reflectors to projectors? I just bought a $300+ Philips/Denso xenon kit a few months ago and absolutely love the results. The entire road is so lit up like no halogen bulb could ever do.

However, if you notice on luxury cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, Acura... the headlights are very crisp in their display... My lights are all over the place (I angled them down, out of the eyes of other drivers) but luxury cars have very defined zones where the light is and where it isn't. That is the difference between projector and reflector.

Anyway, I was thinking of changing over to projector headlights. I found some projector headlamps for my '00 Accord:

http://www.shiftmax.com/lightings/acd98.htm

http://www.topendmotorsports.c....html

Has anyone had any experience with either of these? These headlamps are not only projector based, but also include "angel eyes" (like the BMW 5 and 7 series). I think they look awesome. Since I already have the xenon kit I'll just need to buy the xenon bulbs meant for projector headlights (if they are not TOO expensive). I want to give this a shot, if any of you have made this conversion please let me know how you like it. Thanks.

 

I also found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...93703

I'm pretty sure a new headlamp casing will be required to use the projector bulbs w/ ballasts. I am just a little confused how the "angel eyes" part works...

 

There's some here that I'm thinking about getting for my 2000 EX coupe. I think they're better priced than the first set you're looking at. Make sure you shop around before you order anything, and I wouldn't buy anything from ebay because it's not very reliable, you get what you pay for.

http://www.racerwheel.com/ligh....html

 

DO NOT BUY A SET OF AFTERMARKET PROJECTORS AND THROW A HID KIT IN THEM!!!!!!!!!!

It will be a total waste of money. Those projectors are crap compared to OEM projectors found on the higher end cars. The only ones that seem ok for a HID kit are the TYC's. The output sucks so much with those aftermarket projectors. Yes your kit does glare a lot but after you put it into one of those projectors your light output will be horrible. That smooth patter you are talking about is the cutoff. They disperse the light evenly unlike your stock housings which cant.

My advice would be to buy some OEM projectors and put them into your stock housings. It does take some work but it is well worth it in the end. Theres plenty of guys who will do it but it aint cheap. The projectors themselves are pricey.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Legendaryyaj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">DO NOT BUY A SET OF AFTERMARKET PROJECTORS AND THROW A HID KIT IN THEM!!!!!!!!!!

It will be a total waste of money. Those projectors are crap compared to OEM projectors found on the higher end cars. The only ones that seem ok for a HID kit are the TYC's. The output sucks so much with those aftermarket projectors. Yes your kit does glare a lot but after you put it into one of those projectors your light output will be horrible. That smooth patter you are talking about is the cutoff. They disperse the light evenly unlike your stock housings which cant.

My advice would be to buy some OEM projectors and put them into your stock housings. It does take some work but it is well worth it in the end. Theres plenty of guys who will do it but it aint cheap. The projectors themselves are pricey.</TD></TR></TABLE> this guy knows what hes talkin about dont do it

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I had a feeling it might be a bad idea, which is ok. It is pretty darn expensive and I already have a HID kit for my stock reflector headlights. No biggie. Sucks though, it would be nice to have some projector headlights, but honestly the HIDs I have are great. Here are some pics of my Accord with the HID kit:

http://www.sounddomain.com/ride/396534/7

I have readjusted the angle since those pics, but you can see how bright they are - big difference, one of my best investments with that car so far.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Legendaryyaj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">DO NOT BUY A SET OF AFTERMARKET PROJECTORS AND THROW A HID KIT IN THEM!!!!!!!!!!.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Then explain to me why I have exactly what you say "not" to do and the performance is far superior to most of the luxury cars that come factory equipped with them. I have pulled up beside a few Mercedes and BMW's and mine have blown away the performance of their hid's. The cutoff is excellent as well and does not glare bad at all.



Very little glare above the cutoff line (just like a factory hid system)

 

hids look great but the headlights Imo

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SuShiBoiiii &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hids look great but the headlights Imo</TD></TR></TABLE>

I feel the same way that you do, I am going to be upgrading to the si-r headlights in the near future and getting hid's for them as well (most likely a retro fit since they are not projectors) and since the hid's in the projectors right now are h3 bulbs I plan to put those in a set of fog lights.

 

not sure how familiar you guys are with oem projectors, but i can tell you that mercedes and bmw really dont make excellent projectors.

s2000, tl, new gs, tsx, a4. those are the best oem projectors. s2000, imho is far superior to any mercedes or bmw i have ever seen. frankly, its the best out there. look for those, if you want a clean cutoff.

ricerocket dave, seems like you got lucky with those aftermarket projectors. they still glare, but theyre not half as bad as most others!

i would personally save up for the 300-400 is would cost to get the parts for an OE projector retro. but each to their own ;D

oh here's a link to the retro process, with the renowned s2000 projectors!

http://www.v6performance.net/f...55470

 

Rocket,

Your cutoff is HORRIBLE compared to OEM projectors. Yes there is a cutoff, but its not even clean and it does glare. Why dont you take pic of those witht he lighting ont he ground vs a OEM projector. When I pull up with my kit in reflector headlights I Light up the road more than a OEM projector car also because I have glare everywhere. If you want to light up the road get a HID kit in reflective housings, if you want a clean cutoff get projectors.

The Honda projectors are said to be way better and have a wider light dispersion. Most people go for the european ones because they are way more colorful than the Honda ones. The S2000 is raved to be one of the best but Ive heard that the EVO one is pretty good as well. The TSX one is also VERY popular.

 

i bought a set off "gaybay", in the day time they look real nice. but once the lights go out at night, the light pattern sucks a fat one. if i'm drivin on a country road, i have to run with my high beams just to fill all the blanks on the road. i'm lookin for some factory JDM originals for my 91. then im puttin the HID kit in. cant stand these fake *** projectors.